Chapter 438 Ways to Make Money
When we first arrived, we had no pots or stoves at home, so the whole family ate at the armed forces department's canteen.
The canteen is also in the courtyard, which is very convenient. The food isn't great, but the multigrain steamed buns and boiled cabbage are enough to fill your stomach.
After dinner, Song Lubai and Wei Yang let their two daughters play in the yard while they tidied up the room.
There aren't many things, so it's easy to pack. Some missing daily necessities will need to be replenished gradually.
Wei Yang, while making the bed, asked, "The 18th Regiment doesn't have a business office. This place is poor. The educated youth's salary is still five yuan. The regiment is operating at a loss. I guess they won't be able to come up with any money to support you in doing anything for a while."
The wages of educated youth in the 16th Regiment have risen to eight yuan, while those in the 18th Regiment are still five yuan, and they still need financial support from the division headquarters. When Wei Yang came last time, he only glanced at the documents and roughly knew what the situation was like in this place.
The path of making cloth shoes has been blocked by the 16th Regiment, and given the situation in the 18th Regiment, the food workshop will not be able to be established anytime soon.
Song Lubai said, "I have a college diploma. Please arrange a less demanding position for me first, and I'll see how things go."
There are things to do, money to earn, and she wants to improve together with Wei Yang. She has to take things one step at a time and see what happens next.
Since Song Lubai was still unfamiliar with the 18th Regiment, she didn't send the children to kindergarten immediately after arriving. Instead, she used picture books and other children's books she had brought back from the capital to teach the two sisters.
Since the children are still young, Song Lubai only allows the two of them to study for an hour or two each day.
Wei Yang arranged for her to work in the educated youth office, where she was responsible for settling and distributing the educated youth's monthly wages.
There was very little work; she was hardly busy anytime, and only a few days a month. Her work was so leisurely that Song Lu spent all her time sitting in the office reading the newspaper.
Wei Yang is quite busy. Recently, he has been busy surveying the overall appearance of the 18th Regiment, just like when he went to the 16th Regiment.
After the survey was completed, he found that the situation of the 18th Regiment was much worse than that of the 16th Regiment. The 16th Regiment was mostly on plains, but at least it was not adjacent to the desert.
The 18th Regiment is located on the edge of the desert, with frequent sandstorms and severe soil salinization. Sandstorms blow for one-third of the year.
His primary task is to prevent wind erosion and stabilize the soil, and to address the issue of greening the edges of the desert.
If the area where the sandstorm blows is covered with large trees, forming a stable barrier, the land inside the 18th Regiment can retain moisture and increase crop yields.
Besides that, we still have to dig a canal!
The remediation project would take a considerable amount of time, so Wei Yang consulted with forestry technicians about the possibility of intercropping fruit trees in the fields.
Xinjiang province has long hours of sunshine and a large temperature difference between day and night, so its fruits are generally sweeter than those in other provinces. Even tomatoes have a refreshing sweetness. Apple trees typically start bearing fruit after three years, pear trees after five years, and jujube trees also take three to five years to start bearing fruit.
The first few years after planting fruit trees are all about maintenance, and the engineering work required takes a long time.
It will be difficult to see results in a short period of time.
But we can't stop doing things just because we don't see results yet; those things are all necessary to do.
Wei Yang built a small stove in front of his house. When he returned to the courtyard of the Armed Forces Department, Song Lubai was standing at the door cooking.
Her family eats the same multigrain pancakes and cabbage as the cafeteria, but her cabbage is more flavorful than the cafeteria's.
Since there was no oil at home, she simply used a small amount of seasoning to make a cold salad with the cooked cabbage.
The sour and spicy flavor is very appetizing. In this weather, drinking a bowl of hot sweet potato soup makes you feel very comfortable.
After Song Lubai finished tidying up the stove, she went inside and handed the newspaper she had brought back to Wei Yang.
Wei Yang had read the newspaper, but for a moment he didn't understand her point.
Song Lubai pointed to a headline in the newspaper and said, "Look, the Nanning Canned Food Factory has improved its production efficiency through technological innovation. The machines for making canned food have been upgraded, and the shelf life of the canned food has been extended."
Wei Yang raised an eyebrow at her. Because the child was present, he didn't pull her to sit on his lap, but instead pulled her to sit beside him.
"You want to make canned goods? Our team's current conditions don't allow it."
The couple sat side by side on the bed. Song Lubai said, "I know it's not allowed now, but after reading this, I feel that we actually have the potential to build a cannery here. The reason canned food is expensive is because the raw materials and production processes are costly. Take oranges, for example; they're only available for a few months a year, don't keep for long, and are inconvenient to transport from elsewhere, easily spoiling on the way. If we built our own cannery here, how could we possibly sell them for such a high price in the future..."
Song Lubai had read many newspapers and knew that domestically produced canned goods were a luxury for ordinary people. Many families could only buy them a few times a year, partly because they were out of stock and partly because they were expensive, as canned goods were mainly supplied to the military and exported to earn foreign exchange.
"I know that with our regiment's capabilities, we won't be able to open a cannery even in ten more years, but the division headquarters can. Baishui City has a good location and transportation is more convenient than other places, so we can definitely set one up."
Although the division headquarters was also poor, it was definitely much stronger than the regiment.
Wei Yang grabbed her hand and said, "You write the report, and I'll submit your opinions."
Song Lubai nodded and then said, "It seems that our regiment does not have a wool purchasing station."
Wei Yang nodded and said, "There aren't many sheep in the regiment, and most of the company's people are Han Chinese who don't know how to raise them. Do you want to buy wool and sell it to a wool mill?"
Song Lubai felt that the two of them had a good understanding.
She nodded and said, "The troupe is too poor, so nothing else can be done for the time being. Herding is faster, and we can make money by collecting wool. If it becomes a large-scale operation in the future, we should be able to make a lot of money."
When she went to Shicheng to study that year, she heard from her classmates who were also working at a wool mill that the production volume could not be increased because the amount of wool collected was too small.
The wool mill's products are expensive because they are scarce.
The development of wool mills has never been as good as that of cotton mills, because cotton mills have large tracts of cotton fields to support them.
Only ethnic minorities know how to herd livestock, but the new residents of the Production and Construction Corps in recent years are all Han Chinese. Their customs are different, they don't speak the same language, and there are occasional frictions. The Han Chinese have never thought about developing animal husbandry.
Song Lubai added, "There are also milk curds sold at the bazaar. They are made with goat milk. If we have enough goats, we can make them ourselves."
Sitting in the office was too leisurely, and she found it hard not to think about how to make the group earn money, change the status quo of the 18th Regiment, and also demonstrate her value.
Wei Yang grabbed her hand and said, "After I submit the report, you should go to the business office as a team leader. It's getting cold, and you can't do much in winter. Write the plan in a few days, and I'll submit it together."
He felt that his wife's brain was naturally designed to make money.
The foothills north of the 18th Regiment are ideal for grazing, and Wei Yang thought this method was feasible after consideration.
If it can be implemented, the benefits will definitely be faster and more significant than his series of measures.
Song Lubai said, "If I set up a business office now, I'll be all alone, which looks rather pathetic."
Wei Yang chuckled lightly, "A commander without troops is still a commander."
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